Yellow Tang with cataract!

[SimonSKL]

A few days ago I noticed the right eye of my Hawaiian Yellow Tang developed some cloudiness on the slightly protruded lens. Today the protrusion is very profound, almost 1/8" past normal. The white opaque lens turned to brownish yellow. The fish does not seem to be distress and is actively swimming and eating. Any suggestion on what I need to do? Thanks

Normal left eye

Right eye with opaque lens

Today - brownish yellow lens with profound protrusion

 

[Amazon4]

How long have you had him? Any new additions?

Are you sure it's not something attached to the outside of the eye? I would suspect a fluke of some sort. I've seen them attach to the eye.

Can you catch him?

If it's a fluke, I would think a FWD would cause it to drop off. But that's something to research first - I would be prepared to treat for the possibility of a secondary infection. Do you have a hospital tank?

I'd be curious to hear what others think about this and not jump to conclusions yet.

 

[SimonSKL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14971409#post14971409 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Amazon4
How long have you had him? Any new additions?

Are you sure it's not something attached to the outside of the eye? I would suspect a fluke of some sort. I've seen them attach to the eye.

Can you catch him?

If it's a fluke, I would think a FWD would cause it to drop off. But that's something to research first - I would be prepared to treat for the possibility of a secondary infection. Do you have a hospital tank?

I'd be curious to hear what others think about this and not jump to conclusions yet.

Amazon4, thanks for the comment. I have this fish for almost a year. There has been no new addition since then. It started out with some cloudiness and minor bulging about 3 days ago. The fish is not acting sick so I will only do the FW dip as a last resort.

 

[SimonSKL]

Here are two more pictures.

 

[limitdown]

Very likely caused by a physical injury like a scratch or bump on a rock that then got infected (ie popeye). He might improve on his own, but if he doesn't, he might very possibly completely lose the use of that eye. I have had a few fish completely lose their eye from popeye. I now aggressively treat popeye as soon as I see symptoms. I would move the fish to a hospital tank and start dosing with antibiotics such as Furan or Sulfa. If you don't have those, then reach into your own medicine cabinet and drop in ciprofloxacin (cipro) or amoxicillin/augmentin. At 500mg per 10gallons.